6.9 Megalosaurus bucklandi
This is a cast of the premaxilla and maxilla of a large theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Oxfordshire.Megalosaurus is a poorly understood form, partly because it is known from a large quantity of fragmentary and disarticulated material. Recent studies suggest that it is a basal tetanuran theropod. Megalosaurus is of considerable historical interest because it is the first dinosaur genus to be named – William Buckland published the name in 1824.
Note the presence of large recurved tooth crowns. Can you
identify the ‘ascending process’ of the maxilla, which forms the anterior
margin of the antorbital fenestra?
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